Hebrew word · H8273

שָׁרָב

sharav

scorching

A rare word, found only in Isa 35:7 and 49:10. In 49:10 it stands next to "sun" ("neither šārāḇ nor sun will strike them"), which points to the burning heat of the desert, or the heat-baked ground itself. A related Arabic word, sarāb, means "mirage," the shimmering illusion of water over hot sand.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

burning or scorching heat, parched ground

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 35:7

Range of meaning

A rare word, found only in Isa 35:7 and 49:10. In 49:10 it stands next to "sun" ("neither šārāḇ nor sun will strike them"), which points to the burning heat of the desert, or the heat-baked ground itself. A related Arabic word, sarāb, means "mirage," the shimmering illusion of water over hot sand. Lexicons give "burning heat, parched ground" (BDB, HALOT) and mention "mirage" as a possibility.

Against the English

BSB, NIV and KJV have "parched ground." WEB and NRSV have "burning sand." YLT has "mirage." Each choice is defensible. "Parched ground" fits the parallel with "thirsty ground" best. "Mirage" gives a more vivid picture, but it depends on the Arabic word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 49:10 (heat parallel to sun). In Aramaic and later Hebrew, related words are used for heat or a scorching wind. Arabic sarāb means mirage. Older commentators such as Gesenius and Delitzsch favoured "mirage" here. Many modern ones prefer "burning ground."

From the study of Isaiah 49:10

Range of meaning

A rare word, found only in Isa 35:7 and 49:10. Proposed senses are burning or glaring heat, the parched ground that heat produces, and the mirage that shimmers over it. The Arabic cognate sarāb means 'mirage'.

Against the English

BSB, NASB and WEB: 'scorching heat' or 'heat'. ESV: 'scorching wind'. YLT: 'mirage'. NLT folds it into the sun ('searing sun'), so the pair of threats becomes one.

How it drifted

Not drift so much as uncertainty about a rare word. In Modern Hebrew šārāb means a hot, dry desert heatwave (the khamsin), which can make the 'heatwave' reading feel more obvious than the ancient evidence alone shows.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it kausōn ('burning heat, scorching wind') here and 'the waterless place' in 35:7. The Vulgate has aestus ('heat') here. In 35:7 the šārāb 'will become a pool', which fits 'mirage' (the false water becomes real water) as well as 'parched ground'.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 35:7 הַשָּׁרָב֙ the parched ground

    The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

    Here: The ground that glares under the desert sun. The word occurs only here and in Isa 49:10 ("heat and sun"). Some read it as "mirage," from the Arabic sarāb. On that reading, the fake water that fooled thirsty travellers becomes real water.

  2. Isaiah 49:10 שָׁרָ֖ב burning heat

    They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

    Here: A rare word, found only here and in Isaiah 35:7. It is the glaring, shimmering heat of the desert, and it may also call up the mirage that heat produces (YLT translates 'mirage'). Here it is something that 'strikes', so burning heat is the leading sense.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.